


Why He Fights

by QueenoftheHobbits



Category: Dunkirk (2017)
Genre: Gen, Monologue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 12:14:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16660976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenoftheHobbits/pseuds/QueenoftheHobbits
Summary: Alex contemplates why he’s so willing to fight in this bloody war.





	Why He Fights

He knew a lot of men who carried pictures and trinkets from home in their pockets. Mementos, reminders of why they were in France, why they were fighting. Letters would reach them each week and he’d watch the men around him read them, watch the smiles, the tears, the obvious longing to go home and be with the people they cared most about. 

He knew exactly what that felt like. Alex was a private man, but he still carried a photograph of you in his pocket, still wrote letters home when he could, still read your letters and showed his sadness, his longing at being away from you. But those letters, your photograph, they reminded him why he’d signed up in 1939, why he’d joined the Army, why he was fighting in this war. Because of you. Because Hitler, Germany, presented a danger to Britain, and to you. Because you wrote to him about the Black outs, about the bombs being dropped, the air raid shelters. He wanted you to be safe and if to do that he had to sacrifice himself, his soul, his body, he would. 

He knew that every man on that beach felt exactly the same. That they had something, someone, they were willing to die for. They weren’t the same breed of man as their fathers 20 years previous, they weren’t fighting for honour and duty, they were fighting for individuals, for liberties, for the belief the peace for their loved one’s was worth the risk, the fight. 

Even now, stuck on this beach for a second time, after nearly drowning in that goddamn ship, after being dragged back to shore by a row boat, he fully believes that its worth the fight. To keep you safe. To make sure you have the best shot of living a peaceful life. While he’d give anything to be beside you, to watch you hum as you make breakfast and sing in the shower, he knows that you can’t do those things if Hitler decides to take over the world like the insane bastard that he is. This is about ensuring you get to do those things...even if he doesn’t survive long enough to be there when you do.

So when he gets off that damn beach, he’s not giving up on the war. Not going AWOL, not hoping he can get out of it. Because it is a bloody shitty situation, but its worth it. He’s sure it’ll be worth it to know that you’ll be safe even if he’s not. Even if he’s stuck surrounded by dying men and gun fire, it’ll be worth it as long as you’re not. 


End file.
